Amesbury Town Council

General information

Amesbury is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is most famous for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is in its parish, and for the discovery of the Amesbury Archer—dubbed the King of Stonehenge in the press—in 2002. It has been confirmed by archaeologists that it is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the United Kingdom, having been first settled around 8820 BC.King Alfred the Great left it in his will, a copy of which is in the British Library, to his youngest son Aethelweard (c.880-922).Eleanor of Provence, queen of England, died in Amesbury on 24 or 25 June 1291, and was buried in Amesbury Abbey.The parish includes the hamlets of Ratfyn and West Amesbury, and most of Boscombe Down military airfield.GeographyAmesbury is located in southern Wiltshire, 7mi north of Salisbury on the A345. It sits in the River Avon valley on the southern fringes of Salisbury Plain and has historically been considered an important river crossing area on the road from London to Warminster and Exeter. This has continued into the present with the building of the A303 across the Avon next to the town. Originally the town developed around the water meadows next to several bends in the river, but in time has spread onto the valley hillsides and absorbed part of the military airfield at Boscombe Down.